Celebrate Persian New Year at Glendale College

Valley Sun, CA
March 24 2005

IN TRADITION – A Nowruz (Haft-seen) table is a display of seven
articles placed on the table representing life, health, happiness,
prosperity, love, joy and beauty.

The Glendale Community College Persian Club presents a Nowruz Baazar –
a celebration of the Persian New Year – on March 29 from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. in San Rafael Plaza on the GCC campus, 1500 N. Verdugo Road
in Glendale.

The club will have several booths to represent the different aspects
of the Persian culture such as a Haft-seen table, a beautiful display
of seven articles with their names starting with S to represent life,
health, happiness, prosperity, love, joy and beauty; and a Chay Khaneh,
a traditional tea house that is a place to relax, eat, drink and talk –
mostly for men. The strings of history, philosophy, music, culture and
art are all attached to the walls of this cozy yet profound setting.

The Persian Club will also host Persian artist Badri Borghei for
the Nowruz Festival. In 1997, Borghei was recognized by the YWCA of
Greater Los Angeles and received a proclamation from former Mayor
Richard Riordan. Her artworks have been used in lectures by professor
Michael Hillman at Texas State University at Austin. More information
about her work can be found at

Displays of Persian musical instruments such as the tombak, tar, daf,
darieh and santoor will also be featured.

A display of Persian hand crafts, miniature frames, statues, Persian
rugs and samovar will also be featured.

Shiraz, one of the most beautiful and historical cities of Iran,
will have its own booth with a display of artwork, foods and pastries.

Books such as “Iran, the Ancient Land,” with beautiful pictures of
different parts of Iran, “Shahnameh” by Ferdowsi, in English and
biographies of great Armenian characters as Hafez and Khayam willbe
available.

Children are an important part of the Nowrus celebration. The
Persian Club will have Haji-Firuz, a disguised face character in
bright red clothes, singing and entertaining the children. His red
costume symbolizes the blood and tragic fate of the legendary Prince
Siavush and the rebirth of the god of sacrifice, while his happiness
and singing represent his joy at being reborn.

Persian foods will also be be sampled, such as Basmati rice with
safran, kabob, chicken, ashe-reshteh (traditional Persian soup),
ashe-balghoor, and more. For dessert, a traditional Persian ice cream
will be served as well as Persian pastries.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress